Desertec - Tunisian sun will light European homes by 2016

In the sands of North Africa, the Desertec Foundation’s vision for a future where the world's deserts supply clean and sustainable energy to the whole of humankind is beginning to take shape. That future begins in the Saharan deserts of Tunisia with a project called "TuNur". Using thousands of mirrors to track the Tunisian sun to use its heat to generate electricity, the TuNur Concentrating Solar-thermal Power (CSP) plants will ultimately produce 2 Gigawatts of electricity, roughly double the average nuclear power plant. Project developer Nur Energie and its Tunisian partners, led by Top Oilfield Services, plan to construct the project in several phases. The first phase is expected to begin in 2014 and the first electricity exports are set to reach Europe by 2016 via a new low-loss transmission line to Italy. The project has been designed to reduce water requirements to a bare minimum by using a dry, air-based cooling system. The Desertec Foundation is endorsing TuNur and believes that it can serve as a blueprint for the development of further wind and solar projects in the Sahara. The reasons for this are: The project will focus on maximizing local value creation in Tunisia ...Zum vollständigen Artikel